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Team Motivation
9 years ago
Before I start, does anyone who reads these and write their own ever find the Subject line to be intimidating? I mean, honestly, what if I want to use a particular subject line today, but find a much better use for it in the future? Meh, I'll think about it later...or not.
So; Team Motivation. There are plenty of examples for good and for bad, each side having high and low energy investment tactics. While I have enough education and experience to write a lengthy how-to, this is not the medium to do that. This is my journal-space - and now I am in the mood to rant, not lecture.
Therefore, what I mean to write about is a rather specific example of team motivation, and why it is one of the most toxic examples I have yet heard of.
As one whose current employment and skillset are closely matched, I expect to take pride in my work, and so do my co-workers. In this case, my work is in making retail cabinetry - an industry which the results of one's work can positively impact the environment and community - a fulfilling job if things go well.
Yet, things don't always go well. While I personally don't like watching TV shows about a renovation where there's lots of drama and heated yelling, I have seen that it's not always an artificial creation of a network imposing dramatic tension on a workplace. There are egos, and as I have pointed out, there are people with very justified pride in their work. Often, there are design changes to a project due to circumstance, legal or budget constraints, time, or (dare I say it here) artistic reconsideration.
Change can be a good thing, and easy to accept. It can also be very, very painful. In my specific case of demotivation; unexpected, unexplained, drastic change is only slightly less painful than chronic kidney stones.
This is the scenario; my client is in the process of re-designing the look of their brick-and-mortar stores. In theory, the designs were to be tested in a mock store before a standard would be adopted and my company could start manufacturing en masse. In practice, the mock-up appears to have decided nothing, as deadlines for two of the renovated stores' openings has dwindled from nine months to two (maybe three) weeks, and even after one job 'in the new style' was completed, EVERYTHING my company has made still seems to be on the drawing board.
If that's not disheartening enough, it got better! After using no small amount of expensive material, painted to match surprisingly exacting specifications, we learned that the client had someone else cover over the majority of our work with old, reclaimed wood of such quality that should never have been allowed to be seen in a high-end retail environment, much less on new products. On top of that, when we told the client we couldn't meet the schedule (because gee, we were only being given half the time we said it could be done), they threatened to pull ALL our contracts from us unless we committed to the necessary overtime to get close to the deadline.
Did I mention I work at a Union shop with people whose skills at making things rival the ability of certain WMD's abilities to unmake things? Or that I personally could TEACH a high-level college course on AutoCAD?
Beware, my fellow makers, of the scenario I am in. In the course of the projects I have mentioned, good people have simply quit their jobs, wishing they had a microphone simply for the purpose of dropping it in a crowded auditorium full of their client's executives. Because there is a thing worse than doing nothing to build team motivation; making a team work insane amounts of overtime to make things that go straight to the dumpster. As Tolkien wrote: "There is not curse in...the tongues of men to describe (this)" - honestly, there really aren't.
So; Team Motivation. There are plenty of examples for good and for bad, each side having high and low energy investment tactics. While I have enough education and experience to write a lengthy how-to, this is not the medium to do that. This is my journal-space - and now I am in the mood to rant, not lecture.
Therefore, what I mean to write about is a rather specific example of team motivation, and why it is one of the most toxic examples I have yet heard of.
As one whose current employment and skillset are closely matched, I expect to take pride in my work, and so do my co-workers. In this case, my work is in making retail cabinetry - an industry which the results of one's work can positively impact the environment and community - a fulfilling job if things go well.
Yet, things don't always go well. While I personally don't like watching TV shows about a renovation where there's lots of drama and heated yelling, I have seen that it's not always an artificial creation of a network imposing dramatic tension on a workplace. There are egos, and as I have pointed out, there are people with very justified pride in their work. Often, there are design changes to a project due to circumstance, legal or budget constraints, time, or (dare I say it here) artistic reconsideration.
Change can be a good thing, and easy to accept. It can also be very, very painful. In my specific case of demotivation; unexpected, unexplained, drastic change is only slightly less painful than chronic kidney stones.
This is the scenario; my client is in the process of re-designing the look of their brick-and-mortar stores. In theory, the designs were to be tested in a mock store before a standard would be adopted and my company could start manufacturing en masse. In practice, the mock-up appears to have decided nothing, as deadlines for two of the renovated stores' openings has dwindled from nine months to two (maybe three) weeks, and even after one job 'in the new style' was completed, EVERYTHING my company has made still seems to be on the drawing board.
If that's not disheartening enough, it got better! After using no small amount of expensive material, painted to match surprisingly exacting specifications, we learned that the client had someone else cover over the majority of our work with old, reclaimed wood of such quality that should never have been allowed to be seen in a high-end retail environment, much less on new products. On top of that, when we told the client we couldn't meet the schedule (because gee, we were only being given half the time we said it could be done), they threatened to pull ALL our contracts from us unless we committed to the necessary overtime to get close to the deadline.
Did I mention I work at a Union shop with people whose skills at making things rival the ability of certain WMD's abilities to unmake things? Or that I personally could TEACH a high-level college course on AutoCAD?
Beware, my fellow makers, of the scenario I am in. In the course of the projects I have mentioned, good people have simply quit their jobs, wishing they had a microphone simply for the purpose of dropping it in a crowded auditorium full of their client's executives. Because there is a thing worse than doing nothing to build team motivation; making a team work insane amounts of overtime to make things that go straight to the dumpster. As Tolkien wrote: "There is not curse in...the tongues of men to describe (this)" - honestly, there really aren't.
